Ventura County Focus / West | SILVER STRAND

Woman Settles Employer Suit Over Centerfold

A former Playboy playmate, who said she was fired from her job as an office manager when her 20-year-old centerfold was seen by a supervisor, has settled a lawsuit with the company for an undisclosed amount.

Silver Strand Beach resident Patricia Tehaney, Miss May 1976, claimed that she was unfairly discriminated against when she was fired in December 1996 from her job at Hydrex Pest Control. Tehaney settled the suit against the Santa Barbara company Wednesday, said her attorney, Greg Ramirez.

The terms of the settlement were not released because of a confidentiality agreement, Ramirez said.

Tehaney is back working for the Playboy company, and "is very happy," Ramirez said.

Tehaney had claimed in the suit that when she was hired she informed her new boss that she had once graced the pages of Playboy. She also told her boss that a new book featuring five decades of Playboy centerfolds was about to be published and that she would be among those featured in the publication.

Her boss told her not to talk about her centerfold to anyone because the company had strict rules against sexual harassment and didn't want any trouble, Tehaney claimed. But another supervisor asked to see the centerfold and when it was discovered that she showed it to him, Tehaney said she was fired.

But representatives for Hydrex said Tehaney's firing had nothing to do with the centerfold.